Avis Budget Group has named former ABG CFO Brian Choi as its new CEO, effective July 1, according to a Tuesday company filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Current CEO Joe Ferraro, who has been with the company for 45 years, will transition to a board advisor role effective June 30.
The leadership transition accompanied the release of Avis Budget's fourth-quarter and full-year financial results, which included a quarterly net income loss of nearly $2 billion and a full-year net loss of more than $1.8 billion.
The net losses "reflect a change in strategy to significantly accelerate fleet rotations, which resulted in shortening the useful life of the majority of our vehicles in the Americas segment," according to the company. The financial effect of this decision was a one-time non-cash impairment of $2.3 billion and other non-cash related charges of $180 million.
"We took the necessary actions to accelerate our fleet rotation in the Americas segment, which will create more certainty in our fleet costs and better position us for sustainable growth for 2025 and beyond," Ferraro said in a statement.
Choi most recently has served as Avis Budget's chief transformation officer after holding the CFO reins from August 2020 to December 2023. He also had been a board member from January 2016 to August 2020. Prior to joining ABG, Choi was a partner at SRS and had worked at Metalmark Capital and Lehman Brothers, according to Avis Budget.
ABG's fourth-quarter and full-year 2024 earnings call is scheduled for Feb. 12.